The present invention relates to a carpet stretcher device.
When it is desired to lay a carpet on a floor, it is usual practice to fix one end of the carpet, which is unrolled on the floor, adjacent one wall, stretch said carpet and fix the other end of said carpet adjacent the opposite wall. A known carpet stretcher device used for stretching carpets comprises an engaging head fixed to the front end of a bar-like handle and having a number of forwardly and downwardly extending needles set in the lower surface thereof, and a pad fixed to the rear end of said bar-like handle, the arrangement being such that the operator, with his one knee and one hand on the carpet, grips said bar-like handle and manipulates the latter so as to bring the needles on the engaging head into engagement with the carpet and then he kicks said pad forwardly with his other knee (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,882,642 and 3,374,023). However, said known carpet stretcher device requires the operator, in using the device, to extend one knee and kick the pad with the other knee, thus forcing him to assume a constrained posture which tends to fatigue him and hurt his knees.
Another carpet stretcher device is known which comprises an engaging head, a spindle fixed at the front end thereof to said engaging head, a pipe slidably fitted on the rear portion of said spindle, a lever and link assembly interconnecting said engaging head and pipe, and an extension bar connected to the rear end of said pipe, the arrangement being such that with the rear end of said extension bar abutting against the lower portion of one wall, said lever is depressed to advance the engaging head so as to stretch the carpet (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 618/1978). With this known carpet stretcher device, the operator's knees will not be hurt, but in order to adjust the overall length of the extension bar according to the carpet size, it is necessary to successively connect additional bars, thus making it necessary to prepare a large number of extension bars. Added to this is the troublesome operation of connecting and disconnecting said extension bars. Further, since the overall length of the carpet stretcher device is almost as great as the length of the carpet as measured in the stretching direction, there has been a drawback that the operation of transversely moving the carpet stretcher device little by little is very difficult.
The present invention provides a carpet stretcher device which has eliminated the disadvantages described above.